Benito Sanchez | Episode 7

Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts Author

08/24/2021 Added

13 Plays

Description

Benito Sanchez received a BFA in Film and New Media from the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film in 2013. He is currently working as an assistant for film director Matt Reeves on the upcoming new entry in the Batman franchise. He talks about his work on that film, his background as a student, and his aspirations for the future.

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[00:00:02.030]Welcome to ArtsCast Nebraska
[00:00:05.453]a podcast about the creative
[00:00:07.343]activities and research of the
[00:00:09.044]faculty and alumni of the
[00:00:10.744]Hixson-Lied College of
[00:00:12.033]Fine and Performing Arts
[00:00:13.190]at the University of
[00:00:14.275]Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:00:16.256]I'm Chris Marks,
[00:00:17.523]Associate Dean of the college,
[00:00:18.986]and it's my privilege to share
[00:00:20.447]with you these conversations
[00:00:21.871]about the fascinating work
[00:00:23.531]that our faculty and alumni do
[00:00:25.532]in the fine and performing arts.
[00:00:27.664]In this episode, I speak with
[00:00:31.413]alumnus Benito Sanchez
[00:00:33.448]who graduated from UNL in 2013.
[00:00:36.819]He currently works
[00:00:37.860]as an assistant to film director
[00:00:39.732]Matt Reeves and has been
[00:00:41.381]working on the highly
[00:00:43.169]anticipated upcoming entry
[00:00:44.269]in the Batman film franchise.
[00:00:46.600]I spoke with Benito
[00:00:48.091]recently by zoom
[00:00:49.245]and asked him what his job
[00:00:51.050]as a director's assistant involves.
[00:00:54.592][Guest] I am a director's assistant.
[00:00:58.221]I assist a director named
[00:00:59.935]Matt Reeves, who has done
[00:01:02.001]a number of films like
[00:01:02.824]Cloverfield, Planet of the Apes
[00:01:03.944]and is currently in editorial
[00:01:06.798]for The Batman.
[00:01:08.158]Um, basically I do whatever
[00:01:10.530]he needs me to do, so
[00:01:11.556]that can include personal stuff,
[00:01:13.479]um, like you know doing
[00:01:16.396]errands for him, making sure
[00:01:17.465]he has, ah, everything that
[00:01:19.348]he needs, he drinks a lot of tea,
[00:01:20.541]so I get his teas, ah, but then,
[00:01:22.169]we also, you know, it also is
[00:01:24.045]a lot of, um, prep work for
[00:01:26.584]the shoot, and for
[00:01:28.470]pre-production, so
[00:01:29.938]it's just making sure
[00:01:32.275]that he has the correct script
[00:01:33.636]to making sure that, um,
[00:01:35.537]he has all the materials
[00:01:37.280]that he needs to, ah,
[00:01:39.225]to direct effectively,
[00:01:40.783]so the way I think about it is
[00:01:42.034]you know, this is sort of like
[00:01:43.008]a billion dollar, ah, franchise
[00:01:44.748]that he has on his shoulders
[00:01:46.657]but at the end of the day,
[00:01:48.332]my job is to just facilitate
[00:01:49.606]Matt's work, and make sure
[00:01:51.025]that he can get into it as
[00:01:53.008]easy as possible, um, so, yeah,
[00:01:55.012]I take it very seriously,
[00:01:55.928]cause I know that he's
[00:01:57.086]a super hard worker.
[00:01:58.416]You know, people ask me
[00:01:59.432]all the time, like,
[00:02:00.105]what did you learn?
[00:02:00.957]what did you learn?
[00:02:01.218]and it's kind of just like,
[00:02:02.406]it's sort of again, it's another
[00:02:03.173]thing that's sort of difficult
[00:02:04.294]to list; it'd be hard to list
[00:02:06.316]every sort of like little
[00:02:07.229]lesson that you learn
[00:02:08.158]throughout the day, but
[00:02:08.901]it's just like, just going
[00:02:10.022]through it with him,
[00:02:11.289]I feel like has taught
[00:02:12.085]me a lot about how to
[00:02:13.657]compose yourself on set,
[00:02:15.273]how to, how to just get
[00:02:17.110]through it and, ah, how
[00:02:19.321]to handle that pressure.
[00:02:20.660]And, um, yeah, so I mean that's,
[00:02:23.040]I guess that's what I was doing,
[00:02:24.177]I was helping him and I was
[00:02:25.309]learning as much as I possibly could.
[00:02:26.803][Host] So what are some of your
[00:02:28.151]your favorite things that you're,
[00:02:29.636]you're, that you've been doing
[00:02:31.188]in the last year or so on, ah,
[00:02:33.828]the film, you know, like
[00:02:35.151]things that you're finding
[00:02:36.132]the most rewarding,
[00:02:36.991]just personally?
[00:02:38.569][Guest] Yeah, I think just, uh,
[00:02:40.695]developing a you know, relationship
[00:02:41.976]with my boss, Matt, and
[00:02:43.819]again, like I said, just
[00:02:44.637]shadowing him, just
[00:02:45.801]absorbing everything that
[00:02:47.444]he's doing, with, with COVID,
[00:02:49.183]they had to find new ways to,
[00:02:52.009]ah, communicate with everyone
[00:02:54.075]on set, and so they used
[00:02:55.662]this technology, I don't know,
[00:02:57.912]it was, it was a headset
[00:02:58.938]I think the brand is called
[00:03:00.175]Bolero, or something like that
[00:03:01.780]but basically, he had a headset
[00:03:04.174]and he was connected to
[00:03:05.317]the DP, the First AD, a bunch
[00:03:08.016]of other folks, and they
[00:03:10.202]could all talk just from the
[00:03:11.365]push of a button;
[00:03:12.383]and I had one that was listening
[00:03:13.763]to him at all times,
[00:03:14.976]so basically, when I was
[00:03:17.111]on set, I was like, I was kind of
[00:03:18.554]hearing his like train of thought
[00:03:19.838]at all moments, so I
[00:03:21.290]thought that was really neat,
[00:03:22.332]because, you know, it's
[00:03:25.369]almost as close as you can
[00:03:26.639]get to being inside
[00:03:27.395]someone's head, to just
[00:03:28.290]like hear them literally
[00:03:29.475]like for 12 hours a day,
[00:03:31.177]so that was really fascinating
[00:03:33.704]because, you know,
[00:03:34.638]you could hear him talk about
[00:03:35.680]like, well, you know, how how
[00:03:37.947]should we - there's like
[00:03:39.795]just the creative decisions of
[00:03:40.888]like, is there enough of this
[00:03:42.093]in the frame, like, is, are
[00:03:44.208]we buying this, like do we need
[00:03:45.555]a light here, like just those
[00:03:46.670]things like that, again,
[00:03:47.925]just hard to quantify in
[00:03:50.107]like a very solid, like
[00:03:51.397]"this is what I learned",
[00:03:52.438]but just like, just hearing
[00:03:53.764]those conversations I feel like
[00:03:54.569]were really special
[00:03:55.148]and really cool.
[00:03:55.952]I, I started with Matt in
[00:03:57.234]summer of 2018, though
[00:04:00.436]we've only worked on one
[00:04:01.455]project together, which is
[00:04:02.558]this one, but I've been fortunate
[00:04:04.287]enough to see it as he was
[00:04:05.783]writing it, into the
[00:04:06.986]pre-production, at, into
[00:04:09.375]the production, like actually
[00:04:10.289]being there and now
[00:04:11.190]into post, and so, seeing like
[00:04:13.835]him write a scene and being like
[00:04:15.575]"Aw, that's going to be so cool
[00:04:16.754]when like we actually can film it"
[00:04:18.046]and then seeing it filmed
[00:04:19.484]is pretty incredible.
[00:04:20.891]Um, and again, also seeing
[00:04:22.262]like the first designs of
[00:04:23.407]of the Batmobile, and like
[00:04:25.288]remembering like, what it took
[00:04:27.269]you know, oh, there was
[00:04:28.772]there was, or if there was
[00:04:29.804]one designer with the breakthrough
[00:04:30.640]remembering that breakthrough
[00:04:31.959]and then comparing that
[00:04:33.207]initial sketch to what
[00:04:34.403]it actually was, and seeing like
[00:04:36.534]wow, it really was a lot similar
[00:04:37.734]but it was different in this ways,
[00:04:39.031]and then just also knowing like
[00:04:40.644]stylistically what the production
[00:04:42.422]designer brought to it, and just
[00:04:43.807]knowing all these like small
[00:04:44.585]little things that, people mostly
[00:04:46.260]cause people just see the
[00:04:47.226]finished product, and that's
[00:04:48.165]great, and I, and I'm somewhat
[00:04:50.017]envious of that, because I
[00:04:51.484]think this movie's going to
[00:04:52.565]be really cool, um,
[00:04:54.559]we did a lot of
[00:04:55.954]interesting technology on this film,
[00:04:57.595]um, using sort of like VR and
[00:05:00.872]Unreal Engine, to be doing
[00:05:03.542]some of the storyboarding
[00:05:04.638]and things like that, and
[00:05:05.610]I had to keep track of all that,
[00:05:06.761]and make sure it was all
[00:05:08.390]printed for him to have on the day.
[00:05:10.021]So that was actually a really
[00:05:11.158]interesting thing, cause I know
[00:05:12.046]the Carson School is getting more
[00:05:13.213]into like VR and stuff like that
[00:05:14.674]we were using a lot of
[00:05:15.599]that technology in pre-production
[00:05:17.859]and in production, uh,
[00:05:20.108]basically taking the screenshots
[00:05:21.978]from our Unreal Engine and
[00:05:24.079]using those as storyboards, so
[00:05:25.670]and I had, and you know, that's
[00:05:27.378]kind of a newer thing, in
[00:05:28.627]a lot of these circles, like, um,
[00:05:30.583]so I was sort of, I feel like I was
[00:05:33.299]part of this first wave having
[00:05:35.094]to like figure out how to
[00:05:35.934]organize that and how to
[00:05:37.247]actually use that on set.
[00:05:38.566]Like I said, we did a lot of
[00:05:39.966]work in game engines for
[00:05:41.434]pre-production, and that
[00:05:42.855]translated, I mean, directly
[00:05:45.218]into what was shot, in
[00:05:46.539]a real sort of like one-to-one
[00:05:48.397]way, like you would
[00:05:49.500]see the screenshot of what we captured
[00:05:51.121]in the Unreal Engine, and then
[00:05:52.872]if you put it next to the shot
[00:05:54.506]that we got, it would be
[00:05:55.763]pretty much the same, you know,
[00:05:57.382]I mean obviously a little different
[00:05:58.580]because this is the real world,
[00:05:59.472]but, it really was a big blueprint
[00:06:02.095]for us.
[00:06:03.637]One, cause we shut down for like
[00:06:06.115]5 months, and when we ramped up
[00:06:07.686]it was like a second
[00:06:08.780]pre-production.
[00:06:10.151]Instead of doing that in, like, uh,
[00:06:13.039]a, uh, in like a room together,
[00:06:16.153]where sometimes the door
[00:06:17.443]was closed, and I had to go
[00:06:18.664]do something, we were
[00:06:19.868]all working from home, so
[00:06:21.274]I could watch, I could watch all day
[00:06:23.386]them setting up shots in the
[00:06:26.090]Unreal Engine like I was telling you,
[00:06:27.656]I uh, Matt's process as to like why
[00:06:30.248]he wants, this this and this, cause,
[00:06:31.727]it was a very meticulous thing, like
[00:06:33.751]down to the shot
[00:06:34.918]down to the lens, down to
[00:06:36.265]where is the set dressing
[00:06:38.407]all that stuff, so
[00:06:39.733]just being able to see that
[00:06:40.709]on the zoom, in real time,
[00:06:43.258]how those decisions are made,
[00:06:44.981]that I think was really cool.
[00:06:46.922]Because, often if it was,
[00:06:48.938]if its in a room, it's just
[00:06:50.513]it's, I don't know, I mean, I think
[00:06:53.461]it's going to be interesting to
[00:06:55.608]see how things evolve once
[00:06:57.489]hopefully COVID finishes,
[00:06:59.390]but that was one thing, at least
[00:07:00.961]from an educational, like as
[00:07:02.564]an assistant, that was really cool
[00:07:04.092]to see, because I feel like that
[00:07:05.496]was another window that like
[00:07:07.254]I might not have gotten to see
[00:07:08.552]as much of, ah, if it was
[00:07:11.911]like normal times.
[00:07:13.388][Host] When, when did you first
[00:07:14.744]know that you wanted to
[00:07:16.030]go into filmmaking?
[00:07:17.912][Guest] It's hard to remember exactly,
[00:07:19.983]um, but I know one of the biggest
[00:07:22.221]turning points was, ah,
[00:07:23.978]well, I know, my brother, he did
[00:07:27.629]he did this, so at Lincoln
[00:07:29.691]Public Schools they have this
[00:07:30.822]focus program called – I don't know
[00:07:32.496]if it still exists, I'd have to look,
[00:07:34.529]but at the time it was called
[00:07:35.453]ITFP, which I think was like
[00:07:37.112]Information Technology Focus Program,
[00:07:39.198]I, I think there was like, I think
[00:07:40.708]there was a filmmaking class
[00:07:41.988]that he took, and so
[00:07:43.956]he would bring home, like
[00:07:45.113]cameras, and he would bring
[00:07:46.560]home like Mac laptops that
[00:07:48.213]he would check out, and
[00:07:49.272]they would do little shorts,
[00:07:50.463]and I always thought that was
[00:07:51.540]really interesting. I remember
[00:07:52.745]one time he like, buried
[00:07:54.828]us all in the snow, and
[00:07:57.040]we all like, you know, came
[00:07:58.523]out of the snow for like
[00:07:59.519]a zombie concept that he was doing
[00:08:00.817]and I just loved that,
[00:08:01.935]I loved acting in that
[00:08:03.042]and being in that, and
[00:08:03.966]seeing him record it, I was
[00:08:05.043]fascinated by that. Um,
[00:08:06.440]so that's probably my earliest
[00:08:07.466]memories of like filmmaking
[00:08:08.703]and seeing someone be a
[00:08:09.680]filmmaker. And then later,
[00:08:11.160]in high school, ah, at, I went
[00:08:13.572]to Lincoln High, and my friend
[00:08:15.206]who also is a UNL grad, his name
[00:08:16.999]is Michael Maley, he went to the, ah,
[00:08:18.521]art school, um, we did a film
[00:08:22.406]together for that, I think it was
[00:08:23.297]the first year that they did
[00:08:24.291]a competition, or, you know, uh,
[00:08:26.881]some sort of like judging for, for
[00:08:29.278]video, for film, and so we made
[00:08:31.864]a short film and it was so much fun,
[00:08:33.788]and was so cool, and I think
[00:08:35.817]we got really, like, we scored
[00:08:37.776]super high, and so, I remember
[00:08:39.712]seeing, I remember screening that
[00:08:40.908]a couple of times at the Lied Center,
[00:08:43.908]I think it was, and just, the, just the like
[00:08:46.272]just knowing that it scored
[00:08:48.450]really high and just seeing people
[00:08:50.105]feeling and hearing people's reaction
[00:08:51.723]inside the theatre was so magical
[00:08:53.524]to me, and you know I don't think
[00:08:55.106]I've ever, cause I haven't really
[00:08:56.794]finished something that I think
[00:08:58.132]I want to present to the world
[00:09:00.159]or has gone to festival,
[00:09:01.386]actually, no, that's not true,
[00:09:03.213]I got something into a festival
[00:09:04.586]in like 2012, but, there was just
[00:09:07.074]something about seeing it at
[00:09:09.482]the Lied, feeling the reaction,
[00:09:11.586]knowing that, um, it scored
[00:09:13.667]really high, that was just so magical,
[00:09:15.457]and I loved it, and it was almost
[00:09:17.681]addicting, and so I guess maybe
[00:09:19.076]I've just been chasing that ever since.
[00:09:21.029][Host] Benito grew up in Nebraska,
[00:09:24.985]went to Lincoln High, and then to
[00:09:27.034]the Johnny Carson School
[00:09:28.392]of Theatre & Film at UNL.
[00:09:30.672]I asked him to talk about his
[00:09:32.545]early interests in filmmaking
[00:09:34.560]and how his experience as a
[00:09:36.015]film student prepared him
[00:09:37.934]for his career.
[00:09:40.072][Guest] I think for me it was just
[00:09:42.042]understanding what the heck
[00:09:42.963]was happening, I think knowing
[00:09:44.744]that it's like so that light is that,
[00:09:47.449]that light is that, and um,
[00:09:49.676]well, I also I'm always struck
[00:09:52.099]by how similar it is, um,
[00:09:55.295]to be doing our, like, the films
[00:09:56.912]that we were doing in the
[00:09:58.178]Carson School, and then since then
[00:10:00.118]the independent stuff that
[00:10:01.424]I've been trying to do myself,
[00:10:03.245]how similar it is to the
[00:10:04.800]problems that you encounter, ah,
[00:10:06.425]on these bigger budget films,
[00:10:08.180]whether they're $1 million, or
[00:10:09.922]you know, whatever Batman's
[00:10:11.328]budget is, which is huge,
[00:10:12.835]it's like, there's, there's always
[00:10:15.374]a crunch for time,
[00:10:16.280]you're always having to make
[00:10:17.401]somewhat compromises to your vision,
[00:10:19.459]to get it done, you're
[00:10:21.088]always sort of on the fly
[00:10:22.117]trying to figure something out, um,
[00:10:24.077]so, there's just that of going
[00:10:27.659]through it in a sort of like
[00:10:29.950]safer environment that was the
[00:10:31.716]Carson School, and, and sort of
[00:10:33.469]seeing that mirrored in real life,
[00:10:35.613]and, and just having the mentality
[00:10:37.758]of like, oh, okay, this is, they're
[00:10:39.450]going through it too, um,
[00:10:41.118]and then there was, I mean actually,
[00:10:42.401]you know for Matt, um,
[00:10:44.869]you know, I was editing all of
[00:10:46.224]the, um, the screen tests
[00:10:48.804]that they would show the
[00:10:50.080]executives, um, for like
[00:10:52.433]ah, the actors, so you know I
[00:10:54.818]edited the um - and you know,
[00:10:57.226]it wasn't like I was doing
[00:10:58.188]too many like creative decisions
[00:10:59.525]but I still like, you know, the skills
[00:11:01.437]of like, importing and all that stuff
[00:11:04.043]everything I learned at the
[00:11:05.065]Carson School basically, it was
[00:11:06.271]just like, I edited that for these
[00:11:08.729]super high-level meetings
[00:11:10.331]where people decided, like
[00:11:11.567]who's going to be Batman,
[00:11:12.421]you know, things like that,
[00:11:13.426]or just like, you know I edited
[00:11:15.253]the presentation for the
[00:11:17.529]green light committee
[00:11:18.493]where we put together like music
[00:11:19.574]and pictures and all these things
[00:11:20.820]you know, for the top executives
[00:11:24.318]of Warner Bros. to say ok, you guys
[00:11:25.651]are going to shoot. You know, so
[00:11:26.837]those skills certainly came in handy.
[00:11:28.427]You know, I was born and raised
[00:11:30.440]in Nebraska, you know my family's
[00:11:31.833]originally from Mexico, we
[00:11:33.290]don't have any connections to
[00:11:34.358]um, to Hollywood, per se, you know
[00:11:36.870]quote-unquote Hollywood - um,
[00:11:39.104]just being at the Carson School
[00:11:40.250]and being exposed to that, ah,
[00:11:41.865]in Nebraska, was huge for me
[00:11:44.309]because, I didn't have, there was not a
[00:11:46.063]a you know there wasn't like
[00:11:50.103]much exposure anywhere else
[00:11:51.734]within the state, um,
[00:11:53.689]so, you know a lot of people say like
[00:11:55.772]you don't have to go to film school,
[00:11:56.872]whatever, whatever, but for me
[00:11:57.987]I think it was crucial because
[00:11:59.421]I sort of needed that base of, of,
[00:12:01.467]of, um, of knowledge, to I feel like
[00:12:05.092]be, ah, ah, just on the level
[00:12:09.038]playing field out here, because
[00:12:10.381]a lot of folks out here can intern
[00:12:12.327]at different places, and you can
[00:12:13.535]still intern at the Carson School,
[00:12:14.638]cause I know a lot of people do,
[00:12:15.776]but, um, it's certainly a little easier
[00:12:19.190]I think if you're on the west coast
[00:12:20.183]to just, like, ah, pick up on certain
[00:12:22.098]things, but for me, I didn't
[00:12:23.836]have any of that, so I sort
[00:12:25.201]of needed the Carson School
[00:12:26.234]to get me there.
[00:12:27.599]I think it's another thing that
[00:12:28.452]school's really important for,
[00:12:29.532]is just like, experimenting,
[00:12:32.107]finding your voice, watching movies,
[00:12:34.284]so that you can have a take on something
[00:12:36.875]because the worst thing that you can do
[00:12:38.875]is just sort of be neutral on, and
[00:12:40.557]that doesn't help anyone, you
[00:12:42.350]sort of have to find your voice
[00:12:43.489]and find your opinion, and
[00:12:44.397]and that was a big lesson
[00:12:46.389]that I learned, um, in school
[00:12:48.270]and also out of it, it's just like,
[00:12:49.871]it's, you only, you're only as valuable
[00:12:52.215]as like, how much you can
[00:12:53.614]contribute, and to contribute
[00:12:55.040]you really do have a, have to have
[00:12:56.339]a point of view.
[00:12:58.823][Host] While he was a student
[00:13:00.537]at UNL, Benito took some time
[00:13:02.443]off to be an assistant to Phedon Papamichael,
[00:13:05.863]the Director of Photography for
[00:13:07.925]the acclaimed Alexander Payne film
[00:13:10.411]Nebraska. I asked him to talk
[00:13:12.717]about what he learned
[00:13:13.842]from that experience.
[00:13:16.078][Guest] A lot of lessons I learned back then,
[00:13:19.011]ah, on this film Nebraska, um,
[00:13:23.436]I'm still using today, because
[00:13:25.414]it was still the same sort of thing
[00:13:26.668]cause he would, you know he's a
[00:13:27.881]very highly respected DP, you know
[00:13:29.894]he had a lot of expectations, because
[00:13:32.403]he's been working in this industry
[00:13:34.725]for so long, and he's
[00:13:35.929]very well respected, and
[00:13:37.352]he gets great results, but
[00:13:39.636]he has, you know, high expectations
[00:13:41.855]for what he wants out of
[00:13:43.087]an assistant, and so I had to meet them,
[00:13:45.356]and for me it was challenging at first
[00:13:47.111]because, you know, I certainly
[00:13:50.286]had been on set before then,
[00:13:52.156]but nothing quite to the level of that,
[00:13:54.830]of the professionals that were around us,
[00:13:56.749]so that's sort of where I guess I got
[00:13:59.441]the mentality of like, well I just
[00:14:01.006]have to do everything that I can
[00:14:02.353]to make it as easy as possible
[00:14:03.434]because this is, it's hard to be
[00:14:05.040]on set in any capacity, ah,
[00:14:07.822]and especially when you're,
[00:14:08.936]dealing with those high level
[00:14:09.927]decisions that they are, so -
[00:14:11.554][Host] You opened the door a little
[00:14:12.788]bit to kind of what you want
[00:14:14.102]to do um, either beyond this
[00:14:16.956]or after this, I don't know how
[00:14:17.876]long you plan to work for
[00:14:19.129]Matt Reeves, but, uh, what
[00:14:20.896]kind of projects do you
[00:14:21.974]see yourself working on
[00:14:23.094]or where do you see yourself
[00:14:24.471]going over the next several years?
[00:14:27.660][Guest] Yeah, I mean it's,
[00:14:28.579]you know, it's obviously hard to say.
[00:14:30.310]I, I feel like I have like a North Star,
[00:14:32.282]of what I want to do and I'm
[00:14:33.556]trying to follow that North Star,
[00:14:35.281]but there's lots of twists and turns
[00:14:36.466]on the way.
[00:14:37.509][Host] So what's your North Star?
[00:14:39.105][Guest] So the North Star for me
[00:14:40.690]is to do something that, you know,
[00:14:43.041]something like what Matt does,
[00:14:44.859]which is writer, director, and producer,
[00:14:47.327]cause he has his own company,
[00:14:48.931]and he uses that to bring voices
[00:14:52.514]um, to promote voices that are interesting
[00:14:55.580]and that align with the vision
[00:14:57.224]of what he wants to do
[00:14:58.610]and I think that's awesome and great
[00:15:00.039]but you know, he started off
[00:15:02.090]as a writer
[00:15:03.030]and, uh, then, he got into directing
[00:15:06.563]and that's very much what
[00:15:07.922]I would like to do, so
[00:15:09.326]writing is just a very difficult thing
[00:15:10.699]and so, what I'm trying to do
[00:15:12.525]right now is just finish a
[00:15:13.800]feature, actually try to finish
[00:15:15.597]two features by the time I'm
[00:15:17.089]done sort of with this project,
[00:15:19.217]um, because, I guess the one
[00:15:22.022]piece of advice, because
[00:15:22.963]I used to work at Bad Robot,
[00:15:24.158]and, ah, that's J.J. Abrams'
[00:15:26.065]production company,
[00:15:27.571]and on my last day actually,
[00:15:29.238]I sat down with him, and um,
[00:15:32.426]we talked about a number of things, but
[00:15:33.663]one of the biggest things he told me
[00:15:35.259]is that, you know, if you're trying
[00:15:37.153]to be a director in this industry,
[00:15:38.677]ah, and a writer, the biggest
[00:15:40.877]asset that you can have
[00:15:41.870]is a feature film written
[00:15:43.076]in your voice and just, you know,
[00:15:45.572]polished and good, and ready to
[00:15:47.103]present to people, obviously
[00:15:48.379]not like the first draft, like
[00:15:49.323]something good that
[00:15:50.138]you can present to people,
[00:15:50.933]because no one can take that
[00:15:52.572]away from you, it establishes
[00:15:53.874]your voice, um, it shows what
[00:15:56.634]kind of filmmaker you want to be,
[00:15:58.144]um, so that, that has been a big
[00:15:59.745]goal for me, and it's been difficult
[00:16:01.429]just because for me I find it difficult
[00:16:02.939]to sit down and just write,
[00:16:04.881]um, I feel like I can always get
[00:16:06.921]sort of, I was really good at
[00:16:08.647]writing shorts, but you know shorts
[00:16:09.996]aren't more than like 20 pages, ah,
[00:16:11.747]so for me it's been a little hard to
[00:16:13.948]get past the hump of like the short
[00:16:17.084]so, that is a big, that's a big goal
[00:16:19.175]for me in the next, uh, year or two
[00:16:21.036]is just to have those, and, um,
[00:16:23.505]but what I really want to get into
[00:16:24.773]is the Unreal Engine, um,
[00:16:26.562]and ah because I feel like seeing
[00:16:30.190]how much we used it in the
[00:16:31.528]pre-production, I feel like it could
[00:16:32.592]be a good tool to just like, either
[00:16:34.809]do, I mean, people do this all
[00:16:36.509]the time obviously, but it's just
[00:16:37.623]something that I'm exploring, is like
[00:16:39.219]either doing like quick shorts in
[00:16:41.563]in Unreal Engine, or using it
[00:16:44.065]to illustrate to potential buyers
[00:16:46.511]or potential investors, like
[00:16:47.824]what you're trying to do with
[00:16:49.509]a movie and and just saying like
[00:16:51.678]hey, this is like, you know, cause
[00:16:53.538]you can have your pitch deck and
[00:16:55.199]everything, and I've seen some really
[00:16:56.617]beautiful pitch decks, working in
[00:16:57.926]development, that directors will
[00:16:59.762]create to sell their movies
[00:17:01.632]to get the concept out,
[00:17:03.003]and I've seen mood, ah, mood reels
[00:17:06.762]as well, where directors will
[00:17:08.396]directors and producers will
[00:17:10.618]ah, you know, they'll have the
[00:17:12.286]pitch deck, they'll pitch a story and
[00:17:13.731]then you'll see like a 5-minute, um,
[00:17:16.655]you know, video, of clips from
[00:17:19.674]different movies, and set to music
[00:17:22.748]and it'll be like this is the vibe that
[00:17:24.150]we're going for. But then on top of that
[00:17:26.379]my idea would be like, well,
[00:17:27.832]can I actually, create, like can I, can
[00:17:30.386]if, like if I've written a script, can
[00:17:32.047]I like do a scene in the Unreal Engine
[00:17:34.707]and show it to you, and see
[00:17:36.792]with, hire some voice actors
[00:17:38.926]and do like a real scene
[00:17:40.743]and then use that as tool to be like
[00:17:42.251]hey, like, this is what it would
[00:17:43.840]actually look like, and are you
[00:17:44.711]if you're feeling something now,
[00:17:45.912]seeing this like Unreal Engine,
[00:17:47.226]imagine if you saw it in real life.
[00:17:48.833]And, you know, give me the money
[00:17:51.013]to do it, you know what I mean, so
[00:17:52.243]um, so that's so that's something
[00:17:54.102]that I'm actually trying to explore
[00:17:55.320]I just need to build the PC, which
[00:17:56.654]has been hard, because it's been
[00:17:57.681]hard to get a graphics card.
[00:17:59.401][Host] I couldn't resist asking Benito
[00:18:03.971]if he could tell us anything
[00:18:05.494]about what the new Batman film
[00:18:07.564]is going to be like.
[00:18:09.270][Guest] Well, you know what?
[00:18:10.780]I think it's going to be, I think it's
[00:18:12.027]going to surprise a lot of people
[00:18:13.321]I think it's going to be way different
[00:18:14.724]than what's come before,
[00:18:16.388]and I think it is going to be
[00:18:17.460]emotional, and I do hope you cry,
[00:18:19.488]and like, not just cry, but I think
[00:18:21.740]you're going to be excited,
[00:18:22.834]and you're going to be
[00:18:23.933]you know, obviously, I can't say
[00:18:24.812]too much about it, but I do think
[00:18:26.496]that it's going to be really
[00:18:27.353]really cool, and it's going to
[00:18:28.855]surprise people.
[00:18:29.929]And hopefully, they just like feel,
[00:18:31.655]and that's how I always felt
[00:18:33.371]about filmmaking myself,
[00:18:34.398]it was just like, you know, when I
[00:18:36.569]when I feel inspired, I feel a certain
[00:18:38.357]way, or when I see a movie,
[00:18:41.487]like Her, or a music video that
[00:18:43.909]moves me, it's like, I feel something
[00:18:45.893]deeply inside me and, and, and
[00:18:47.599]I feel like that's the most
[00:18:49.311]powerful thing you can do as an
[00:18:50.143]artist is just make someone
[00:18:51.437]feel a certain way, and so
[00:18:53.515]that's, that's that's the biggest goal
[00:18:56.119]is let me make something that's
[00:18:57.398]beautiful, profound, says something, ah,
[00:19:01.069]has a point of view, and
[00:19:02.841]put it out in the world, and then
[00:19:04.480]tell me how you feel about it, you know? So.
[00:19:07.996][Host] When you go to see The Batman,
[00:19:11.253]set to be released in 2022,
[00:19:13.554]keep your eyes out for Benito's name
[00:19:15.823]as the credits roll, and
[00:19:17.291]watch for more of his own work
[00:19:18.606]in the future. I can't wait to
[00:19:20.081]see him writing and directing his
[00:19:21.980]own film someday soon.
[00:19:24.631]You've been listening to ArtsCast Nebraska,
[00:19:27.695]a podcast production of the Hixson-Lied
[00:19:29.648]College of Fine and Performing Arts
[00:19:31.598]at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
[00:19:34.462]This episode was recorded and edited
[00:19:36.691]by me, Chris Marks, with technical
[00:19:38.878]assistance from Jeff O'Brien
[00:19:40.556]from the Johnny Carson Center
[00:19:42.311]of Emerging Media Arts.
[00:19:44.438]Special thanks to Kathe Andersen
[00:19:46.334]and Ella Durham.
[00:19:47.913]For more information about the college,
[00:19:50.189]please visit arts.unl.edu.
[00:19:54.435]Thank you for listening,
[00:19:55.568]and remember to support the arts.

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Benito Sanchez | Episode 7

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